ACA_db

About | Download | System requirements | Purchase
Documentation | License agreement | Revision History

About

Now you can use AutoCAD Architecture more fully in your BIM process. Property Set values can automatically be updated or populated with values that you have available and updated in an external database.

ACA_db can update Property Set values from any database that dbConnect support.

The ACA_db program finds database connection on selected objects in the active drawing and property set(s) that has definition(s) with specific database links. The program allows the user to update the property set(s) with data from an external database that is linked using a dbConnect link that is attached to the object. The program can also find objects with property set(s) but no dbConnect links and objects with dbConnect links but no property set(s) with links.
Multiple property sets and multiple dbConnect links are supported.

ACA_db will improve the BIM process and experience and will improve quality of your data and remove redundancy and conflicts of data.

Download

Contact us to get a time limited license file for free.

ACA_db.zip (430KB) only for 2009-versions.

System requirements

AutoCAD Architecture 2009 (ACA 2009) or AutoCAD MEP 2009 (AMEP 2009).
Older version support might be possible upon request.

Any database like Access (MDB) or SQL Server that can be connected using dbConnect is supported. Other examples are Excel, Oracle, ODBC, etc.

Purchase

50 EUR per license or less depending on the amount of licenses.
Contact us for a quote.

PayPal, share-it, Mastercard/Eurocard, Visa, American Express, and Diner's Club online are accepted. Alternatively, there is support for bank transfer/wire transfer, or Checks and Money Orders through postal mail. Online transfers via giropay and Nordea Solo are also supported.

Documentation

Setup files

• ACA_DB.dll
• Interop.CAO.dll
• ACA_DB_sample.mdb
• ACA_DBsample.dwg
• ACA_DBsamples.UDL
• ACA_DB_license.txt (sent by email from JTB World upon request)

Setup procedure

1. Place the DLL files in a single local folder. For example C:\Program Files\JTB World\ACA_DB
2.  Place also the license file ACA_DB_license.txt in the same folder
3.  ACA_DBsamples.UDL should be placed in the Data Links folder. The location is found by using Options>Files>Data Sources Location.
4. Load the ACA_DB.dll file into ACA environment using the NETLOAD command
5. To run the program use the ACA_DB command

dbConnect

dbConnect command (or DBC) is used to connect database information with objects.

Using the dbConnect command a data source can be created. The database can contains the information and must have an ID (unique) field, but the other fields like manufacturer, size, weight, price, etc can be in different formats.

Select a row in the Data View and click on the Link button at the top left corner. Then select the object that should be linked.

Property Set Definitions

Use the command _AecStyleManager or Format menu to start the Style Manager. Expand Documentation Objects on the left side and then expand Property Set Definitions. Either an existing PSD can be used or a new can be created. What makes a Definition to have the ability to be retrieving information from a database is by adding a special Description on a manual definition.

The syntax for the Description is:
JTBDB!<Data Source>!<Table Name>!<Field Name>
An example is: JTBDB!aca_dbsamples!Prices!Manufacturer.

If the description is string starting with “JTBDB!” it indicates that this is a definition that has a link to a database. “aca_dbsamples” is the data source name and Prices is the table/view/query name and Manufacturer is the field name.

ACA_db

Select objects

Use any selection method to select objects for update / query.
QSelect (Quick Select) can for example be used to make a selection of objects.

ACA_db dialog box

After object(s) selection, the dialog box will show the values from the property sets and from the database.

After changes are made the new or updated values from the database are seen in the Properties palette on the Extended Data tab.

Property Sets

Property Sets panel Shows property set values available in the drawing.
If you click on the row with the Property Sets values the object will automatically be zoomed in.
If no property set is assigned to the object then it is indicated as shown below.

dbConnect Link

dbConnect Link panel Shows DB Link values.
If no link found then it is indicated as shown below.

Forward

Click this button, it moves to next record.

Back

Click this button, it moves to previous record.

Yes

Update property set(s) values with corresponding dbConnect Link values and moves to next record.

Yes to All

Update all the property set(s) values with corresponding DB Link values.
An example of the result is the following dialog box.

Revision History

• 2008-05-05 - version 2
  • Several improvements under the hood
  • Support for multiple database sources
  • UI improvements
  • Licensing
  • Full support for AutoCAD Architecture 2009
• 2008-02-22 - version 1.1
  • Support for AutoCAD Architecture 2009 beta
  • The bug in ACA 2008 is fixed in ACA 2009 that cause the following "harmless" crash message when closing AutoCAD. "AutoCAD Error Aborting - INTERNAL ERROR: Attempt to access AecScheduleDataServices after shutdown!"
• 2007-12-28 - version 1
  • First release for AutoCAD Architecture 2008

ACA-db will help you expand and improve your BIM process. 

If you want other features added feel free to contact us with your wishes.